Water Resources: Hydraulics and Hydrology Interview with Margaret S. Petersen This manuscript is an edited version of an oral history interview conducted by John T. Greenwood in Tucson, Arizona, on August 2, 1995. The original tapes and unedited transcript are in the Research Collections, Office of History, Headquarters, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Alexandria, Virginia. Approved for public release distribution IS unlimited. Preface The United States Army Corps of Engineers significantly contributed to hydraulic and hydrologic engineering over the last two hundred years. Exploiting theory, innovation, and mechanical ingenuity, Corps civilian and military engineers studied the behavior of rivers and the motion of water. They investigated hundreds of streams in the United States, many more than once, collecting data on the physical, chemical, and biological characteristics of rivers; regional precipitation; and local runoff. Their work vastly improved the nation’s ability to predict floods and to take preventive actions. This interview is one of several being produced in a special series covering engineers who shaped the Corps’ hydrology and hydraulics program. Understanding the experiences, contributions, and thoughts of these individuals illuminates the past and provides guidance for the future. We commend this interview to all those interested in the development of twentieth century research in river hydraulics and hydrology. tLzL#d c CA Earl E. Eiker, P.E. Chief, Hydraulics and Hydrology Paul K. Walker, Ph.D. Chief, Office of History . The Interviewer Dr. John T. Greenwood is Chief Field Programs and Historical Services Division, U.S. Army Center of Military History in Washington, D.C., and was the Chief Historian of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers from 1978 to 1988. Dr. Greenwood specializes in U.S. and Russian military and aviation history, is the author of a number of articles and book reviews, and has conducted numerous interviews with civilian and military personnel of the Corps of Engineers. His interview with Maj. Gen. Hugh J. Casey appeared in 1993 as Engineer Memoirs: Mqjor General Hugh .J Casey (EP 870-1-18). This interview with Margaret S. Petersen is the fourth of Dr. Greenwood’s interviews to appear in the series Water Resowces: Hydraulics and Hydrology. The others were with Franklin F. Snyder (EP 870- 1-54) in August 1997 and Vernon K. Hagen (EP 870- 1-55) and Jacob H. Douma (EP 870-1-56) in September 1997. Dr. Greenwood holds his Ph.D. in military history from Kansas State University. -iv- Contents Preface ..................................................................... iii The Interviewer .............................................................. iv Margaret S. Petersen: A Biographical Sketch ...................................... vii Career Information ............................................................ ix TheEarly Years ..............................................................1 Rock Island District and Panama Canal ............................................. 1 Undergraduate Study at the University of Iowa ..................................... .3 Engineering Curriculum ................................................. .3 Waterways Experiment Station .................................................. .5 Mississippi Basin Model at Jackson ........................................ .6 Mississippi Basin Model Board ........................................... .9 Importance of the WES Experience ........................................ 11 Graduate Work at the University of Iowa .......................................... 11 Ake Alin and Dam Design ............................................... 13 DamDesign ........................................................ ..14 A Woman’s Place in Civil Engineering ........................................... 17 Missouri River Division ....................................................... 18 Decision to go to the Missouri River Division ................................ 18 Work on the Missouri River .............................................. 19 WendellJohnson ..................................................... .23 Hydraulics and Hydrology .............................................. .23 Little Rock District .......................................................... .27 Section308Reports .................................................. 28 ReasonsforLeaving MRD .............................................. 29 HydraulicsBranch .................................................... 30 Arkansas River Project ................................................. .32 River Bank Stabilization Studies ......................................... .33 Dams ............................................................... 36 Vane Dikes as an Innovative Approach ..................................... 39 WhiteRiverReach .................................................... 41 Pile Dikes on the Arkansas System ....................................... .43 Arkansas River Cutoffs ................................................. .45 DardenelleDam ..................................................... 46 Computers in the Corps of Engineers ............................................ .48 Waterways Experiment Station in Vicksburg ...................................... .49 Sacramento District ........................................................... 50 Sacramento River Shallow Draft Navigation Project ........................... 53 -V- Morrison Creek Stream Group Study ....................................... 55 San Francisco Bay to Stockton and Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta Studies ......... 56 Phase II of Sacramento River Bank Protection Project ......................... 56 Post-Authorization Studies on Marysville Lake ............................... 56 Environmental Impact Statements ........................................ .57 Retirement ................................................................. 61 Department of Civil Engineering and Engineering Mechanics, The University of Arizona ... 61 Publications and Consulting Work ....................................... .62 Emory Lane ................................................................ 64 Sediment Sampling .......................................................... 64 Morning Glory Spillway ...................................................... .65 HunterRouse .............................................................. 66 Mississippi Basin Model Revisited and the Role of Computers ........................ 67 DamBreakStudies .......................................................... 68 Foreign Influences on Hydraulics in the United States ................................ 69 LorenzStraub ............................................................. 70 GermanInfluence ........................................................... 71 Hans AlbertEinstein ......................................................... 72 VitoVanoni ............................................................... 73 Glossary .................................................................. 75 -vi- MARGARET S. PETERSEN: A Biographical Sketch Margaret Petersen was born in Rock Island, Illinois in 1920. Living near the Mississippi River, she became aware of the river at an early age. Visiting the farm of her great aunt on Mississippi, she saw the river’s power as the farm flooded every spring. After graduating from high school in 1938, Petersen attended Augustana College in Rock Island for one full year and then part-time in the evening school until January 1943.She joined the Corps of Engineers in June 1942 and worked as a draftsman in the Rock Island District. In the winter of 1942, she was selected as one of ten draftsman to go to Panama to complete contract drawings for the Three Locks Project. While in Panama, Petersen saved enough money to return to school. She attended the College of Engineering at the University of Iowa, earning a Bachelors Degree in Civil Engineering in January of 1947. She began her first job as a hydraulic engineer at the Waterways Experiment Station (WES) in Vicksburg in August of 1947 and thus became one of the pioneering women in the field of hydraulic engineering in the Corps of Engineer. At WES she worked on data for the design and operation of the Mississippi Basin Model. Believing that she needed an advanced degree to better understand her work in hydraulics, Petersen returned to the University of Iowa in 1952 and received the Masters Degree in Mechanics and Hydraulics in 1953. After graduation, she worked as a hydraulic engineer at the Missouri River Division (MRD) in Omaha, Nebraska. She reviewed designs of spillways and other structures to insure that hydraulic functioning and operation fulfill requirements and intended uses. She also worked on various navigation and stabilization projects on the Missouri River. Margaret Petersen wanted the experience of working at a district level, so she transferred to the Little Rock District in September 1955 There she worked in the hydraulic design section on river engineering, working on bank stabilization and channel rectification on the Arkansas River. In January 1961, she became Chief of the Channel Hydraulics Investigation Section. She was responsible for hydraulic studies related to the navigation channel on the Arkansas River, including stream reaches, the layout and design of the entrance channel on the lower White River, and the siting of navigation locks and dams on the Arkansas River to assure adequate navigation conditions. From Little Rock, Petersen